INTRO.- NLT 13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.
Hold to the pattern. What’s the pattern? It depends on what you’re talking about. There is a pattern for almost anything and everything.
ILL.- For example, I have a pattern by which I prepare my book sermons that I preach. I study the text by paragraph and try to discover the main thought of the text to begin with. Next I try to break down the text (paragraph) based on the main thought or theme. Generally there is almost always several points or thoughts relating to the main theme of the text. (1, 2, 3, etc.)
Then once I have the points of the sermons that’s when begin to build the sermon based on those thoughts. I refer to it as putting meat on the bones. The sermon outline from the text is the bones and the meat refers to the applications and illustrations. AND THAT’S MY PATTERN FOR PREPARING BOOK SERMONS! And I know you’re so glad to hear about this!
ILL.- One time a little boy saw his father use a square to see if a board he was planing was straight. “Why are you so careful, Daddy?” asked the boy. “We can’t guess in carpenter work,” his dad said. “You have to be just right. People guess at too many things. God does not like that way of living.”
“I guess there are no squares to live by,” said the boy. “Yes, there are squares to live by, and you will find them in the Bible. Test all that you do by them, and you go straight in life, my boy.”
God’s Word gives us pattern for life which we must adhere to if we would see life. That is, if we would see the best life here and now and the life in the next.
PROP.- The pattern that Paul refers to is sound teaching but it includes several thoughts.
1- Keep the teaching
2- Guard the deposit
3- Show the mercy
I. KEEP THE TEACHING
13What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
NLT Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.
Keep the sound teaching, the solid stuff based on God’s Word.
ILL.- When my mother still lived at home and suffered with her Parkinson’s disease I would go back and visit her regularly. I remember one time when I was back to see mom that she had an envelope (I believe it was) lying on the table next to her chair and it had a long row of numbers on it. I asked mom, “What’s this?” She said, “I’m figuring my checkbook.”
Mom was figuring, balancing her checkbook the old fashioned way by adding up a long list of numbers. DO PEOPLE DO THAT ANY MORE? Don’t we have calculators for this? Why bother doing it the old fashioned way?
Mother said she did it that way because she said it was good for her mind. It exercised her brain. And when it comes to some things, the old way may well be the best way!!! Amen?
ILL.- For example, no one can beat the old fashion gospel about Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world! And it’s hard to beat old fashioned preaching of God’s Word, but today, we’ve got a new breed of preachers with new ideas and new ways of preaching.
Some use power point presentations extensively. I knew of one preacher who showed still pictures throughout his whole sermon and I know why. The content of his sermon was so poor or shallow that he showed pictures to cover up his lack of study.
Some use little or no scripture in their sermons. Their sermons are not sermons, but rather more like little pep talks filled with lots of entertaining stories. And yes, I know that I use lots of stories for illustrations in my sermons but I do this with a point in mind. AND THAT IS TO MAKE A STRONG POINT FROM SCRIPTURE! I never tell a story just to be telling a cute story. I always use it to point to something spiritual or something in scripture. Jesus told good stories too!
Some preachers today say little about sin, death and hell. I suppose they don’t want to offend their audience. We also have few people walking the aisles in our churches to accept Christ, confess Him and be baptized. Could this be the reason? If we don’t preach the truth about sin which separates us from God then it seems to me that people will never respond to God.
ILL.- I remember many years ago when I preached a sermon about baptism and a lady came forward at the invitation time. She said to me, “I didn’t know I needed to be baptized.” Apparently, if we don’t preach the truth of scripture then people won’t respond and maybe this is why people don’t respond.
II Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
We need to correctly handle the word of truth, which means we need to study and know the Book in order to please God and keep on track in life!
ILL.- On Basic Religion Test, Many Doth Not Pass By LAURIE GOODSTEIN Published: September 28, 2010. Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion.
Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.
On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith. Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons.
Here are some of the Biblical questions:
- Which Bible figure is most closely associated with leading the exodus from Egypt? Job, Elijah, Moses, or Abraham
- Which of the following is NOT one of the Ten Commandments?Do not commit adultery, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Do not steal, or Keep the Sabbath holy
- Which Bible figure is most closely associated with remaining obedient to God despite suffering? Job, Elijah, Moses, or Abraham.
13What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
We need to hold strongly to the sound teaching of God’s Word, because it alone will lead people to faith in Christ who can save them!
II. GUARD THE DEPOSIT
14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Guard the deposit. I do this every time I get a check! Don’t you? I guard my deposit and put it in the bank asap! I’ve been told that you shouldn’t even endorse your check before you take it to the bank because if you lost it and someone found it they could cash it! GUARD YOUR DEPOSIT!
ILL.- Some time back while I was visiting with our Louise Smith at her apartment she told me that she got a check in the mail from IRS and she wondered about it. She wondered if it was really hers. I told her as long as it wasn’t an outrageous amount of money, then it was probably hers. AND IT WAS HERS. And all she needed to do was put in the bank.
That’s what we need to do as well. And that’s what we need to do with all the checks we get in the mail from Uncle Sam (ha!) and elsewhere. And that’s what we need to do with all the good stuff that our Heavenly Father gives to us! Guard the deposit!
Every time God gives us something good we need to guard it and deposit it in the bank of our hearts and minds! Such as scriptural truths, etc.
ILL.- Believe it or not, I can still remember a few sermons that I heard while I was in college. I only remember bits and pieces but I have guarded those bits and pieces and deposited them in my memory back for future recall. For example, I remember professor Bob Stacy preaching a sermon in chapel by starting with the words, “YOU OUGHT TO BE DEAD!” What was he talking about?
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Bob was saying that we needed to be dead to self and alive to Christ. He was saying that we should put away “self-living” for Christlike living. And he was right!
ILL.- Another time I remember hearing Boyce Mouton preach a sermon about being fools for Christ from I Corinthians 4. It’s like the guy who was walking down the sidewalk with a sign board or a sandwich sign board used for advertising. On the front side it read: “I’m a fool for Christ.” On his back it read: “WHOSE FOOL ARE YOU?” What a powerful thought! And it’s true that everyone is a fool for someone or something, but whose fool are you? We were reminded that we needed to be fools for Christ and live for Him!
Brothers and sisters, every time we receive something from God, especially, something spiritual, we should guard it with our lives, treasure it, and deposit in our hearts and minds so that it will bless us and others in time.
14Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
When we’re serious about our faith the Holy Spirit will help us to lay up spiritual treasures and keep them safe. These are the things that will carry us to heaven and and the things we’ll carry with us into heaven! We need to guard them and carefully deposit them in our hearts and minds.
15You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Why would Paul mention these two characters? If they deserted Paul they may well have deserted Christ and the faith. And that’s what happens to people when they don’t guard the good teaching of God’s Word and deposit in their hearts and minds! WE MUST BEWARE OF DESERTING CHRIST!
At all costs, we must remain faithful to Christ! We must do whatever it takes to stay true to Him! God’s pattern and plan is for us to stay with Him!
III. SHOW THE MERCY
16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. 17 On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. 18 May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
May the Lord show mercy. How does the Lord do this? He does it through us! Mercy.
How great that word sounds and how great that word acts! Did you hear me? Mercy acts. Mercy demonstrates kindness, care, compassion. But it seems like we are living in a generation of little mercy or “no mercy.” Many people show “no mercy” to others in any way, shape or form.
ILL.- NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) - It wasn’t quite man-bites-dog, but there were men and there were dogs and there was biting. A sheriff’s office said that one man bit another during a fight over a couple of dogs at a park in suburban New York City. Rockland County sheriff’s Capt. William Barbera says two dog owners got into it Sunday night.
One didn’t like the way their pets were playing at a dog park in New City, about 30 miles north of New York. Barbera says that a third man tried to break up the fight and that one of the combatants bit him on the wrist.
It’s a dog-eat-dog world and my dog is going to eat your dog or bite your dog or else I’ll bite you! If there is any way I can get ahead of you, or beat you in anything, I will do it. THAT’S THE WAY OF THE WORLD! SHOW NO MERCY!
ILL.- I saw some time ago that Arby’s on Highland opened up again so I decided to go get one of their Market Fresh sandwiches. I hadn’t had one in a long time and it sounded good. However, I went around noon and noon on Highland Drive is a very busy place. I went through the Drive-thru and I thought it was going to take forever. Then when I got my sandwich and decided to turn right on Highland Drive the cars were stacked up. As you may know, there’s a stoplight right at Arby’s. Fortunately, for me, someone showed mercy when the light turned green and let me in.
Now you know that many drivers wouldn’t do that. Or again, it’s like standing in line at the Wal-mart checkout. I saw a lady recently with a basket full of groceries, etc. and a man standing behind her with only one item. She spoke to him but never showed any mercy by letting him check out ahead of her. That astounds me! It’s not only “no mercy,” it’s just plain indifferent toward others and self-centeredness!
Regardless of how the world does or acts, we are supposed to act with mercy toward others. That’s God’s pattern for our lives!
Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus wants us to show mercy to all people and especially, those whom we consider “sinners.” After all, has He not done this for “us” sinners? Showing mercy is greater than making a sacrificial offering. God desires mercy more than legalistic observance.
ILL.- Someone said: Anyone can be polite to a king. It takes a gentleman to be polite to a beggar. It’s easy to be nice, show mercy to the rich, the powerful, the famous but what about to the common man or even more so, to the poor, the lost, the sinner? Could it be that God shows mercy today through us? I think He does and we need to be His instruments of mercy. That’s His pattern or will for our lives.
CONCLUSION---------------------------
ILL.- Years ago an old Scottish woman who went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed.
One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman,"it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!
Many times in life we choose a certain way to go or something to do simply because that’s what we want. However, God’s will or His pattern for our lives should be the most important in deciding what we will do in life.
IT’S NOT MY WILL BE DONE! It should rightfully be, “Father, thy will be done.” We should always seek His will first in life instead of doing our own thing. Doing our own thing often leads to heartache and trouble. Doing God’s will, His way leads to peace and blessing.
NLT 13 Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.
We must hold to the pattern that God gives us in His Word. Whatever He says in His Word is the right thing to do. WE MUST HOLD TO HIS PATTERN OF LIVING!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
